Hot prospects
Robin Oakley
Youth and fashion are starting to edge into memory lane. When the warm-up band for the 69-year-old Jacques Chirac played at his Sunday night rally in the Place de la Republique I was probably the only one who could sing along with 'Rivers Of Babylon'. I am, I fear, so uncool these days that when car-radio thieves strike they leave my tapes behind. My son looks both ways for friends before he steps out in to the street with me. But it isn't always fun being an infant prodigy either. Watch Jamie Spencer in a race and he appears wise beyond his years, 21 going on 45. He is a cool-headed tactician with that precious gift of being able to get horses to switch off and relax, in order to produce the maximum effort when it is needed.
At the start of this season Luca Cumani's jockey was being hailed as the hottest prospect since the young Lester Piggott, with pundits everywhere suggesting it was only a matter of time before Ballydoyle or Godolphin made him an offer he couldn't refuse. But watching him as the 2000 Guineas field pulled up at the end of the season's first Classic he looked, just for a moment, altogether more vulnerable. The sad little shake of the head, the pursed lips, the sudden sallow tinge to the normally pink cheeks reminded one of a Dickensian waif about to be collared by Wackford Squeers, a choirboy with a dicky alarm clock anticipating the vicar's wrath after sleeping through the early service.
Riding the favourite Hawk Wing from the mighty Ballydoyle yard of Aidan O'Brien, the youthful prodigy had been given the perfect opportunity to launch a showcase season for his burgeoning talents. He had indeed won the race on the stands side, and won it by many lengths, scooting clear of the others horses more than a furlong out and quickening right away. But victory in the race overall went to Rock of Gibraltar who was driven out by Johnny Murtagh on the patch of better ground against the far rail, after having been given a handy lead for much of the business part of the race by Redback. Spencer, on the best horse in the race, had finished only second, and Hawk Wing was immediately made favourite for the Derby.
With the Ballydoyle operation said to be looking at Spencer as the successor in due course to Mick Kinane, ruled out of the Guineas ride by a suspension, you could see the young jockey thinking in those moments, 'Oh my God, I've blown it. They're never going to want me now.'
In fact Aidan O'Brien, who trains Rock of Gibraltar as well, was his usual gentle, thoughtful self after the race. He did not get where he is by giving horses or jockeys only one chance. He declared tactfully that he was pleased the two Ballydoyle horses had not raced together because, with the jockeys who were on them, the loser in such a contest might have been scarred for life. But while O'Brien. with the consolation of having trained the winner anyway, was relaxed, many pundits were more critical. Spencer, they insisted, should have tacked across to where the competition was and given his horse something to race with. It was, they said, a day's racing he would want to forget. Well, maybe.
I am probably influenced by my pocket because I had deserted my original selection King of Happiness when the market faltered and weighed in at 9-1 with Rock of Gibraltar, a colt whose toughness during his busy two-year-old career, winning the Dewhurst and the Grand Criterium, had impressed me. He may not have grown much but he has plenty of heart and I am not convinced that Hawk Wing would have beaten him even if they had raced together. What many seemed to forget was that Rock of Gibraltar, who won five of his seven starts as a two-year-old, also beat Hawk Wing in the Railway Stakes at The Curragh on Irish Derby day last year, and had been odds-on favourite to do so.
I was also prejudiced in Jamie Spencer's favour by his earlier victory on Kyllachy. One of this column's Ten to Follow last year, Kyllachy has been well worth continuing with this year. He won well at Newbury at 5-1 on his seasonal debut and was backed down to 2-1 favourite in the Group 3 sprint at Newmarket. Even Kyllachy's trainer. Henry Candy, though, admits he is a difficult ride and he proved so on Guineas Day. He was out at the back for much of the race but Spencer kept calm and kept working. When the gap came he pounced and he got up on the line to win by a short head. It was a gutsy, class performance by both horse and rider. And for both of them there will be plenty more. Spencer, I am sure, is man enough at 21 to shrug off the disappointment on Hawk Wing and to balance that with the praise the critics gave him for his ride on Kyllachy.
Similar plaudits, however, should have gone to the equally determined but so far less fashionable Paul Doe, who also swooped on the line, using the Johnny Murtagh route up the rail, to bring home the white-faced Marsad as the short-head winner of the Victor Chandler sprint for the second year running. Marsad had been available at 22-1 in the morning and was backed down to 11-2, sadly without a penny of my money to help, although he is an old favourite. It was a fine training feat by Jon Akehurst. Good to see the bookiepunishing traditions of his father Reg continuing.
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